The nurse-patient interactions relevant to cancer pain management have been extensively studied from the perspective of the nurse's assessment and treatment decisions and the patient's satisfaction with treatment. No research has emphasized the ways in which the meaning of pain might be determined and evaluated during the nurse-cancer patient communication process. The purpose of this study is to examine the actual nurse-patient communication process relevant to the meanings of pain and to describe how the meanings of pain are determined within the nurse-patient dyad. Nurse-patient encounters will be audiotaped. The research method of narrative analysis will be used. Narrative analysis includes elements of literary post-structural and deconstruction theories. Nurses may gain a greater understanding of pain discourse and may improve the communication of meanings between the nurse and the patient by identifying the elements of the actual process. Modifying the structure and process of pain discourse may facilitate cancer pain management.